Mark Allen wins the £250,000 first prize at the 2024 Riyadh Season Snooker Championship

Victory for Allen represents his first title of the 2024/25 season, and the £250,000 first prize he pockets is the joint-highest payday of his snooker career, so far.

The Riyadh Season Snooker Championship - previously known as the World Masters of Snooker when it was held for the first time earlier this year - featured an additional gold ball worth 20 points meaning a maximum 167 break could be made, although no-one achieved this unique feat and therefore the $1 million bonus attached to it was not claimed.

Allen arrived in the Middle East in good form, despite having not reached a final this season prior. If you count conventional snooker only (excluding the one-frame, timed Snooker Shoot Out) the Northern Irishman had made the semi-finals of the three previous tournaments on the World Snooker Tour.

As the number five seed for this event, 38-year-old Allen began his campaign in the quarter-finals where he faced fourth seed Mark Selby; the two had met at this exact same stage in the inaugural staging. The same victor emerged, as Allen recovered from 2-1 down to win 4-2 and advance to Finals Day.

In the semi-finals, Allen dethroned reigning champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-2, making breaks of 53, 56, 60 and finishing off with a 134 total clearance.

2023 World Champion Luca Brecel - runner-up here in March - was back in the final again after a trio of wins over Zhang Anda, reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson, and then Mark Williams in the last four.

Before these last couple of weeks, the Belgian had endured a rotten season before showing signs of recovery at last week's Scottish Open where he made the quarter-finals, and his latest final run here in Riyadh.

Aiming for his first individual title on the professional circuit since his crowning at the Crucible over 18 months ago, Brecel deposited the opening frame of the final.

However, aided by his superior safety play during the contest, Allen registered runs of 104, 109 and 50 as he strung together five consecutive frames for his latest title triumph.

The quarter-of-a-million pounds Allen collects is the same amount he received for winning the 2022 UK Championship.

Although this was the World Snooker Tour's final trophy lift of 2024, it's not the last action from the professional circuit this calendar year with 2025 World Open qualifying taking place on Saturday and Sunday at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.

Both Allen and Brecel will be involved in this, with their matches scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

For full details on the 2024 Riyadh Season Snooker Championship, please visit our tournament information centre here.